Are probiotics beneficial for obese patients with major depressive disorder? Opinion for future implications and strategies

Abstract

Mental health has become one of the main topics in discussing the burden of disease in recent decades.This issue is a major cause of high morbidity rates, an important risk factor for premature death, decreased daily productivity, and diseases with high costs (1, 2).The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) in 2019 stated that mental health problems that commonly occur are depression and anxiety disorders.Both ranked among the top 25 as major diseases worldwide (3).It was estimated that 418 million disability-adjusted life years and an economic burden of $5 trillion might be attributed to mental diseases, with a more than 3-fold increase over previous projections (1).Major Depressive Disorder (MDD) is a mood disorder characterized by feelings of depression (sadness, irritability, emptiness) or loss of pleasure or interest in activities (4).Approximately 280 million people worldwide, or an estimated 5% of adults, suffer from MDD (3).There are several lifestyle risk factors that can cause someone to develop MDD, including physical activity, healthy diet, sleep duration, smoking habit, and screen time (5), with obesity being one of the main causes.Obesity itself is also a disease with a high incidence, affecting 600 million people worldwide, and at least 2.6 million people die from obesity-related causes each year (4).A prospective study found a 30% increased incidence of MDD in individuals with obesity (6).From a psychosocial perspective, obesityFrontiers in Nutrition frontiersin.org

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